Logan was dead.
Dead.
Hours ago, she felt something snap in her chest and could no longer feel him.
The king of East Varos was killed just like that. He walked into her life six months ago and was ripped from her in a matter of hours.
When it happened, Selene screamed, and the mark Logan gave her burned white-hot against her throat. Then everything went black.
What woke her was the sensation of stone on the back of her head as she was being dragged across the floors of the castle.
She stood immediately. Refusing to be dragged through the castle. She would walk. Fuck them.
The murderer who killed Logan granted her death by sword. She was a queen afterall. He was doing the "honorable" thing.
How gracious of him.
Hating him didn't even begin to cover it.
Bloodied bodies littered the halls. Both wolf and human forms.
This wasn't an attack. This was an annihilation. No survivors. Ashwood was known as the mad king. But he'd never done something like this.
The soldiers shoved her forward, and she stumbled along. They entered the throne room, where she would face her fate.
The throne room was gutted. Tapestries burned. Bodies lined the walls. Warriors she'd known by name, servants who'd brought her tea, guards who'd bowed when she passed.
All dead.
Everything that was happening felt distant. Like it was happening to someone else. Or like she was a spectator.
Six months ago, Selene was called the most beautiful woman in Varos. Courted by kings. Found her fated mate. And now, she was marching to her death, gagged and cuffed. Silver chains wrapped around her upper body and neck searing into her skin.
She should be sobbing, but something had gone quiet inside her. Numb. Like her grief was too large to feel all at once, so her mind had simply... stopped.
She had a cloth tied around her mouth so she couldn't speak, and her crown was still on. She couldn't speak. Couldn't beg. Couldn't even curse the men who'd slaughtered her pack.
Death was what she wanted for herself. But the life inside of her didn't deserve that. So if the ungagged her, she would beg. She would try.
She found out she was pregnant one week ago. It was still so early that they hadn't told anyone and she wasn't showing. Logan was so happy. He gave her that ridiculous, boyish grin and picked her up and spun her around.
And now, he would never see his child.
And neither would anyone else.
At least our child won't die alone, she thought. At least I'll be holding them when the sword falls.
The warrior who had dragged her earlier spoke. "Kneel."
She looked at him defiantly.
No. Go fuck yourself. If she wasn't gagged, that's what she'd say.
He smirked and his hand went on her shoulder, forcing her to her knees. The stone was wet beneath her. Blood she knew the scent of. Logan.
"When I thought Queen of the East, I expected a woman. She looks young. It'd be a waste."
He grabbed her chin, examining her face, then smelled her hair.
"Think Theron would notice if we... delayed the execution?"
The thought made Selene sick. The man's hands traced her body.
Another warrior stepped forward and touched her breast, unapologetically. His thumb circled her nipple.
Selene tried to pull away, but they held her in place.
"The alpha is running late. What difference does it make if her death is either way."
Laughter rippled through the soldiers.
The one touching her breasts moved his hand lower. His fingers pressed between her thighs through the silk. He moved in slow, deliberate circles, watching her face for the fear he wanted.
Selene screamed through the gag, high pitched. Afraid. What the actual hell. She was granted death by sword. Not this.
The throne room doors opened, and the two soldiers fondling her snapped to attention. Their hands moved away from her so quickly it was as if they had been burned.
Selene already decided, she would not show fear. She would not give this murder that satisfaction. She looked straight at him.
Let me see the face of the man who took everything from me.
Across the throneroom, Theron Ashwood froze. H{e was the King of the West and the man that was about to kill her. She didn't flinch.
And then the universe committed its cruelest joke yet.
His scent hit her like a blade to the chest. Pine. Smoke. Something ancient and wrong and undeniable.
Her wolf, who had been silent, who had been dying, who Selene thought might already be gone, dragged herself from the dark with one impossible word.
Mate.